Hey y'all. Long-time sufferer of DSPD here. Since I was about 10 years old, maybe earlier, I have had immense difficulty falling asleep at an appropriate time for my responsibilities. I remember staying up LATE reading from a young age and my mother having to resort to screaming her head off, ripping the blankets off of me and even dumping water on my head to wake me up in the morning for school.

As you probably well know, this sleep disorder is extremely interfering with almost every facet of life. I've missed out on opportunities because of it, and it affects my relationships, work ethic, and self-worth, led to depression and anxiety... I would say it's been the single biggest obstacle in my life. It is by far the most limiting and severe comorbidity of my ADHD.

About 7 years ago I had a consultation with a psychiatrist when it became clear that despite great behavioral changes and just plain trying my best, this disorder was medical in origin and needed to be addressed as such. That doctor prescribed me seroquel/quetiapine as a sleep aid and to help with cope with the anxiety that surrounded it. Seroquel is an extremely sedating medication and it's difficult NOT to fall asleep on it. It was a tough adjustment at first as I felt tired ALL the time. But after about 6 months I felt fine during the day, and I slowly adjusted to a more normal sleep schedule.

It was a good several years. I had occasional slip ups but I was falling asleep between 1-3 AM and waking up between 7:30 and 10 AM the vast majority of the time. I felt like I was cured! I had some crappy side effects like 'the munchies' and gained some weight but I was so happy I was sleeping and waking like a normal person it barely bothered me.

However... the past year or so the medication has pretty much stopped working for me. I'm on a very high dose (400mg) that's usually only prescribed for psychosis and it does almost nothing any more. I've been taking it every night for years so my tolerance is sky high.

I feel like at this point I've tried everything- sleep hygiene, exercise, aromatherapy, supplements, light therapy, and all the pharmacological options available to me. Trazadone, elavil, hydroxizine, antihistamines and zopliclone may as well have been like taking chamomile tablets they did so little. Calmag and melatonin can actually help but only if I use them sparingly. CBD/cannabis does nothing for me. The only things that ever really helped me sleep are booze and seroquel. I won't drink to sleep for obvious reasons and now that my meds are no longer working I feel like I am at a loss.

My GP is on leave, but is supposed to be back November 1st. When she gets back I'm going to discuss my options and prepare to take a period of abstinence from seroquel to hopefully lose my tolerance. In the meantime, I was wondering if you have had any experiences, good neutral or bad, with pharmaceutical sleep aids? I feel like most of the meds that make people drowsy have zero effect on me. I'm wondering if there is a stopgap measure I can use while I take a break from my meds since I just can't deal with this dysfunctional sleep pattern any more. Any feedback would be extremely appreciated <3